Radical Avenue

There are a lot of events occurring simultaneously in October as my friend Doug Robertson has noted on Current Events Watch. I’ve been discussing Domestic Violence for the past couple of days, but October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month. Breast cancer touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of people each year. Since 1996, Lee National Denim Day has raised more than $66 million for the fight against breast cancer. At 451 Press we’re having a “comfortable” day of blogging on October 5. This means that several of us are taking a break from our normal focus in order to write about whatever suits our fancy.

I have decided to write about one of my favorite novels, Mutiny on the Bounty. I had planned on flying off to Tahiti or perhaps Pitcairn Island in order to conduct some research on this topic, but that might melt the plastic in my wallet. Ouch. So I’ll have to use my imagination. What a tortuously difficult decision those seamen must have faced on that fateful journey to the South Pacific…

Well here comes Fletcher Christian and he’ll want to know where I stand. Hmmm, how shall I proceed? Do I stay here in a tropical paradise where the half naked locals treat me like a prince? Or do I cast off with Captain Bligh back to England where it’s dreary and cold and the local tax collector has just moved in next door? What a terrible dilemma.

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Before getting into this topic, I want to make one thing clear. I do not speak from experience. I grew up in a nurturing home with two parents who worked hard every day to give myself and my siblings the chance to enjoy happy, productive lives. I was one of the lucky ones. But domestic violence creates a tremendous burden on our society here in America. There’s plenty of opportunity for positive change and that’s why I talk about it. Also, as I’ve mentioned, October is Domestic Violence Awareness month and the bloggers of 451 Press have been writing extensively on this subject.

In reading interviews with people who’ve grown up in abusive homes, I’m struck by how often these individuals say that the only time their father paid any attention to them was when he was abusing them. In other words, these kids only got what they interpreted as love during a violent encounter. So they came to associate abuse with affection. It’s no wonder that they have scars which last a lifetime. When children suffer from sexual abuse, it’s even more toxic.

I fear that we sometimes overlook the obvious when it comes to identifying the causes of deviant behavior. Children take about 18 years to develop into adults. Kids who grow up in a nurturing environment adjust to adult life far more easily than do kids who grow up in an abusive home. If we want to tackle problems like drug addiction and violent crime, we should start by getting kids out of abusive environments and into settings where they are not living in constant fear.

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October is Domestic Violence Awareness month and the bloggers of 451 Press have banded together to highlight the problem. Violence at home leaves scars that last a lifetime. Kids raised in an abusive environment have nowhere to turn. They don’t have the physical or mental strength to fight back effectively. They can’t leave home and make it on their own. Other family members are typically powerless to end the abuse, and may not even be aware of it. So kids just curl up in a ball and take it. They are left to wonder why no one was there to protect them in their time of need. These children become ticking time bombs. And when the bomb explodes, more innocent people get hurt.

Violence begets violence. Children will come to associate brutality with reward if that’s what they learn at home. Our society could do a much better job of seeking out at risk kids and quickly getting them the help they need to live normal productive lives. Kids aren’t natural born killers. If they are acting out in violent ways at an early age, it’s a clear indication that something is seriously wrong. Juvenile delinquency programs should be a priority, not an afterthought.

One of the most egregious forms of abuse is also one of the most difficult to discuss: sexual exploitation. We don’t hear about it on the news much except when a particularly gruesome case comes along and then we hear about nothing else for weeks on end. This gives us a distorted picture, and feeds the stereotype of sexual abuse as a relatively uncommon problem carried out by strangers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most sexual abuse victims know their attackers and are often related to them. News organizations that focus incessantly on the salacious aspects of one case without referencing the larger problem are also engaged in exploitation. It’s disgraceful.

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